Audible or not, this is not the first time Brownlee has got his knickers in a twist at a perceived angle against national. Surely he realises a ranting letter to the speaker makes it much worse for his party? Personally, I think it’s a hangover from 9 years in power and he hasn’t shaken the arrogance yet.still expects the media to jump at his command and eat out of his hand.

A snap poll of Stuff's political team found three reporters could not hear the remark at all, while two could hear something like "stupid little girl" - but couldn't be sure this wasn't something else.

So it seems plausible that Trevor Mallard is making a lot of noise about an insult that may never have been spoken.

A snap poll of Stuff's political team found three reporters could not hear the remark at all, while two could hear something like "stupid little girl" - but couldn't be sure this wasn't something else.

So it seems plausible that Trevor Mallard is making a lot of noise about an insult that may never have been spoken.

A snap poll of Stuff's political team found three reporters could not hear the remark at all, while two could hear something like "stupid little girl" - but couldn't be sure this wasn't something else.

So it seems plausible that Trevor Mallard is making a lot of noise about an insult that may never have been spoken.

It’s possible, and this story had died until Gerry revived it.

True, with his comments and Paula Bennett's remarks they have definitely kept the story live.

And I'm not even talking about those who work the farms. They are just ordinary people happy to work in a polluting industry but there are heaps of them around. I'm talking about these new Agri-business oligarchs who own multiple farms and hungrily chew up more and more unsuitable land for dirty dairying forcing sloppy, untested practice and non-compliance on their workers.

Last edited by Thai guy on Wed May 23, 2018 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

He strikes me as quite intelligent and very driven. I just disagree with his policies.

I've been in a room with him. He's not intelligent, or at least if he is it's blind libertarianism which pollutes what intelligence there might be.

This Banff Ave thing is classic Seymour though and reminds me of Seneca's Starbucks thread. These guys are segregators. They do not believe in the power of homogenised community to fix the disadvantaged and the elite alike. Seneca was upset that Starbucks used its position on every street corner to become a community provider of space for disadvantaged people. This was actually a social gesture by Starbucks (admittedly under pressure after negative media stories) in response to the excesses of expanding inequalities which sees more and more people unable to live adequately under modern western rules.

Similarly, on Banff Ave, Seymour completely ignores the benefits to both the future social housing residents (solo mothers with young or teenaged kids) and the existing neighbours (who all bought next to or have lived with the HNZ property in question). Narrow minded right wing clowns like Seymour are solely interested in their own future in the electorate rather than a wider stratified community where social pressures are diluted and dispersed. He seeks to concentrate bad outcomes in designated areas just as Seneca seeks to keep people who can't afford a Starbucks coffee out on the street.

It's quite disgusting really.

Last edited by Thai guy on Wed May 23, 2018 10:56 am, edited 2 times in total.

And I'm not even talking about those who work the farms. They are just ordinary people happy to work in a polluting industry but there are heaps of them around. I'm talking about these new Agri-business oligarchs who own multiple farms and hungrily chew up more and more unsuitable land for dirty dairying forcing sloppy, untested practice and non-compliance on their workers.

What is it about your sad, miserable existence that makes you so bitter and twisted about ... oh never mind.

And I'm not even talking about those who work the farms. They are just ordinary people happy to work in a polluting industry but there are heaps of them around. I'm talking about these new Agri-business oligarchs who own multiple farms and hungrily chew up more and more unsuitable land for dirty dairying forcing sloppy, untested practice and non-compliance on their workers.

What is it about your sad, miserable existence that makes you so bitter and twisted about ... oh never mind.

Yeah so the two farms at the centre of all this are those of the van Leewens and the Zeestratens (or something like that). They own about 50 farms between them. Why can't you make the connection between increasing agri-business intensification practice and increasing harm to the water table and now to livestock?

And I'm not even talking about those who work the farms. They are just ordinary people happy to work in a polluting industry but there are heaps of them around. I'm talking about these new Agri-business oligarchs who own multiple farms and hungrily chew up more and more unsuitable land for dirty dairying forcing sloppy, untested practice and non-compliance on their workers.

What is it about your sad, miserable existence that makes you so bitter and twisted about ... oh never mind.

Yeah so the two farms at the centre of all this are those of the van Leewens and the Zeestratens (or something like that). They own about 50 farms between them. Why can't you make the connection between increasing agri-business intensification practice and increasing harm to the water table and now to livestock?

It's a poor choice regardless of your weak justifications Eug... whether you like it or not there are implications stemming from the use of it that you can't worm away from. It also contrasts with any effort you may make to promote any sort of progressive cause or social awareness policy.

Twyford does have a massive job on his hands trying to fix the destruction by the National government. Particularly as they'll continue to sabotage large scale house building because it might affect their voters' property portfolios.

Police and army personnel removed 222 people from Bastion Point, above Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour, ending an occupation that had lasted 506 days. Local iwi (tribe) Ngāti Whātua were protesting against the loss of land in the Ōrākei block, which had once been declared ‘absolutely inalienable’.

Protesters occupied Bastion Point in January 1977 after the government announced a housing development on former Ngāti Whātua reserve land. The reserve had been gradually reduced in size by compulsory acquisition, leaving Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei holding less than 1 ha.

Following a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry in the mid-1980s, much of the land was later returned to or vested with Ngāti Whātua.

There were similar protests during 1978 at Raglan, where Māori land had been taken during the Second World War for an airfield that was never built. Instead of being returned to its former owners, some of this land had been turned into a golf course in 1969. The land was eventually returned to the Tainui Awhiro people.